European Starling
Place of Origin: Eurasia and North Africa
Place of Harm: All over the United States
First Introduced: 1890
Harms: Nuisance, destroys crops, competes with native species, transmit diseases
Other Names: Common Starling, Purple-winged Starling
First brought to North America by Shakespeare enthusiasts in the nineteenth century, European Starlings are now among the continent’s most numerous songbirds. European Starlings have been intentionally introduced all over the world, generally for aesthetic purposes. Ironically starlings are now widely regarded as pests for various reasons, including the fact that their huge flocks, noisy habits and prodigious waste are considered aesthetically displeasing. Far from being considered beautiful, delicious or beneficial, European Starlings in the United States are normally described as loud, obnoxious, destructive birds, who steal grain, ravage crops and crowd out native bird species. Flocks can number in the thousands, and when a flock of this size settles on a field the damage they do is considerable. Starlings are particularly culpable in their assaults on crops such as grapes, olives, cherries and grains. In new grain fields starlings pull up the young plants and eat the seeds. Starlings also create formidable problems for livestock and poultry facilities, congregating at feed troughs to eat, and contaminating food and water sources in the process. Starlings are also known to enter buildings to roost and build nests, creating sanitation problems. European Starlings can carry diseases that are transmissible to livestock and to people, including TGE (transmissible gastroenteritis - a disease of swine), blastomycosis, and salmonella. Many control methods have been advocated, including physical exclusion from crops through use of nets, etc., habitat modification (eliminating nest sites and food and water sources), frightening, repellents, poisoning, shooting and trapping. Physical exclusion and habitat modification have also been successful. Poisons used to control starlings include "Starlicide Complete" (0.1% 3-chloro p-toluidine hydrochloride) which is said to be toxic to some other birds but not to mammals. However, to eliminate large numbers of starlings, poisoning is the most effective method. A possible long term solution, particularly for reducing numbers of starlings in areas where they are competing for nest sites with cavity nesters, might be to provide a large number of nest boxes away from the immediate areas of the cavity nesters, and then remove eggs or young. Starlings breed semi-colonially and nest in holes, often in trees, although a wide variety of types of cavities can be used. Their habitat of nesting in cavities which are more protected from predators than open nests results in high nesting success. Starlings are formidable competitors in contests with other species for nest sites. They have been known to usurp nest sites from cavity-nesting birds much larger than they are. In New Zealand some claim that biological control of insect pests was a factor in release, but studies have shown that the starlings are not as effective as was hoped for in the area The most commonly repeated benefit of starling populations is their consumption of insect pests that threaten agriculture.
Place of Origin: Eurasia and North Africa
Place of Harm: All over the United States
First Introduced: 1890
Harms: Nuisance, destroys crops, competes with native species, transmit diseases
Other Names: Common Starling, Purple-winged Starling
First brought to North America by Shakespeare enthusiasts in the nineteenth century, European Starlings are now among the continent’s most numerous songbirds. European Starlings have been intentionally introduced all over the world, generally for aesthetic purposes. Ironically starlings are now widely regarded as pests for various reasons, including the fact that their huge flocks, noisy habits and prodigious waste are considered aesthetically displeasing. Far from being considered beautiful, delicious or beneficial, European Starlings in the United States are normally described as loud, obnoxious, destructive birds, who steal grain, ravage crops and crowd out native bird species. Flocks can number in the thousands, and when a flock of this size settles on a field the damage they do is considerable. Starlings are particularly culpable in their assaults on crops such as grapes, olives, cherries and grains. In new grain fields starlings pull up the young plants and eat the seeds. Starlings also create formidable problems for livestock and poultry facilities, congregating at feed troughs to eat, and contaminating food and water sources in the process. Starlings are also known to enter buildings to roost and build nests, creating sanitation problems. European Starlings can carry diseases that are transmissible to livestock and to people, including TGE (transmissible gastroenteritis - a disease of swine), blastomycosis, and salmonella. Many control methods have been advocated, including physical exclusion from crops through use of nets, etc., habitat modification (eliminating nest sites and food and water sources), frightening, repellents, poisoning, shooting and trapping. Physical exclusion and habitat modification have also been successful. Poisons used to control starlings include "Starlicide Complete" (0.1% 3-chloro p-toluidine hydrochloride) which is said to be toxic to some other birds but not to mammals. However, to eliminate large numbers of starlings, poisoning is the most effective method. A possible long term solution, particularly for reducing numbers of starlings in areas where they are competing for nest sites with cavity nesters, might be to provide a large number of nest boxes away from the immediate areas of the cavity nesters, and then remove eggs or young. Starlings breed semi-colonially and nest in holes, often in trees, although a wide variety of types of cavities can be used. Their habitat of nesting in cavities which are more protected from predators than open nests results in high nesting success. Starlings are formidable competitors in contests with other species for nest sites. They have been known to usurp nest sites from cavity-nesting birds much larger than they are. In New Zealand some claim that biological control of insect pests was a factor in release, but studies have shown that the starlings are not as effective as was hoped for in the area The most commonly repeated benefit of starling populations is their consumption of insect pests that threaten agriculture.
Essential Question
"Could a genetically engineered invasive species potentially be used in warfare?"